Austin, Texas, Monday, November 19, 2012 – TEXSAR team members are preparing alongside the Texas Maritime Regiment (TMAR) at the request of the City of Austin Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office in order to manage 1,000 volunteers required for the upcoming Urban Shield Exercise.

On December 1, 2012, volunteers will act as victims, which may include participating in a decontamination process similar to that which is used when an individual is exposed to a hazardous material. Providing overall training, tracking and placement of the volunteers is where TEXSAR and TMAR’s role in the exercise becomes crucial to the success of the exercise.

“TMAR is honored to partner with TEXSAR in this critical exercise. While always difficult to simulate exact incident circumstances, the coordinated effort of Operation Urban Shield will allow TMAR and TEXSAR to best prepare for typical issues that might occur during times of emergencies,” stated Brigadier General Robert J Bodisch, Commanding Officer of the Texas Maritime Regiment.

TEXSAR is an all-volunteer, first responder organization based in Austin that services Central Texas and is able to deploy throughout the entire State. They are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that expanded from a ground search and rescue team to a fully capable, multi-discipline search and rescue, swift water rescue, wild land fire, and disaster response team. All TEXSAR personnel are certified according to State and Federal standards and operated under the emergency management and National Incident Management System.

As a non-profit organization, there is never a charge to the requesting agency for TEXSAR’s services.